Method of producing alpha composite button



Oct. 4, 1932. J. N. WHITEHOUSE METHOD OF PRODUCING A COMPOSITE BUTTONFiled June 9, 1928 Patented Get. 4, 1932 v I 1 sates PATENT Torsion H iI I i i v i :l'OHN 1N. WHITEHO' US E, YORK-N. Y. Y

METHODZOF PRODUCING ACO'MPOSI'liE BUTTON- a n ation filed June 9, 1928.1 Serial nuasaass.

"This invention relates to buttons and simitials of the process to beused in making lar' objects, and aims to provide an article them.

of this class which is inexpensive to manu- In the drawing: 1 facture,attractive in appearance, and du- Fig. 1 is a plan View of a buttoninvolving 5 rable, r I .the invention. a Specifically I propose to makea button Fig. 2'is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1. having a body formedofa phenol condensa- Fig. 3 is a section similar to Fig. 2 showtion'product or other synthetic resin coming'a modification. I

pounds, or materials having. like qualities, Fig. 4- 1s a plan viewof'one of the face dlscs 1c and a facing of "celluloidfhaving asubstanused in the structureofFig. 6. 60 tially welded relation with thebody. Fig. 5 is a plan View of a second face disc It has heretofore beenproposed to make used in the modification of Fig. 6. r such articles ofa molded phenol eondensa- Fig. 6 is a plan View of a modifiedbutton tionproduct, which is comparatively inex- Str cture, j I pensive. .However,for economical produc- Fig 7 1s a section on line 77 of Fig. 6.

sig it i ykhgt th ldi and Referring'to the drawing more particularcnringoperations be accomplished by 1y, the button shown in F igs. 1, 2 and3-commeans of automatic machinery, and with prises a celluloid facingindicatedby the nugreat speed. A phenol condensation product ineral '10which has a welded relation to a o 2:; does not lend itself tothesecommercial conbody of phenol condensation material 11. m

ditions, because for. best results a curing This facing may be about15/1000 of an inch 'time oif up to three minutes is demanded, and thick,or even thinner, the maximumthickness no to escape t 1e speed limitationthus imbeing aboutl/IO the general'thickness of the posed on automatic"molding and curing? button. In practice phenol condensation maoperationshas heretofore been suggested. terial, preferably in powdered form, inprop- 75 Furthermore, article's ofa phenol condensa- 'er'quantity, 1Splaced in a mold havmg 1nproduct and to weldto such body, as part ofmight be preliminarily heated before it is tion product alone 'do nothave a sufficiently ternal conformation suitable for theproducattractive appearance. iilOI). of'the finished shape, andthere-given a I propose to form the body of a button heat treatment offrom say 200 to 27 5 F. to

no (for instance) of a phenol condensation initiate curing.Alternatively, thematerial 0 the operation of curing the phenolcondenput into the mold; Thereafter the properly sation product andmolding the button as a shaped'facing disc of celluloid, which has beenwhole, a facing of celluloid. The principal cut from a flat sheet ofcelluloid of desired 1; difiiculty inherent in the problem thus procolorand thickness, is laid over the prelimi- 85 posed, resides in the factthat the curing 'narily heated phenol condensation material, temperatureof the phenol condensation and substantially simultaneously a diememproduct is above the decomposing temperaber suitably shaped to givethe desired-face ture of the celluloid. This difficulty isreconformation to the button, and also if de- -1:') moved by theparticular process which I emsired to pierce the button with sewingaperup ploy, and the end result is an article in which tures or thelike, contacts with the'facing 10 the celluloid facing is substantiallywelded jand'compresses' the" same together with, and to the .underbody,substantially without deagainst, th phenol condensation material 1terioration of either material. And the rewithin'the mold, giving thearticle the desired {7' suiting article ms the added attractivenessfinishedform. As a' result of the pressing due to the translucence' ofthe celluloid. operation the temperature of" the phenolcon- In theaccompanying drawing I have densation material, which as stated abovehas shown examples of buttons and other articles already beenpreliminarily heated, is raised illustrating the kind of products'which'I to the curing optimum, and very little dwell have in mind, and I willdescribe the essenis necessary, because the preliminary heat motreatment will have brought the phenol condensation material close tothe'cur ing stage, and only the brief moment occupied by the moldingcompression is needed to complete the curing. It will beevidenttherefore.

that if a dial feed or the like be employed, and the preliminarytreatment of the phenol condensation'material take place at one or morestations, the complete operation comprising an endless succession ofsteps, commercial production by automatic machinery and at a very rapidrate, is possible."-

As a result of thedescribed'operations the celluloid facing issubstantially'welded toor coalesced withthe body, which latter. is nowger, analogous towhat is produced in the welding togetherof metals. Orit may be that becauseof the surrounding-heat and pressure conditions,substantially all air iseliminated from between the contacting surfaces,so that atmospheric pressure is operative. Oragain, v

superficial projections of phenol condensation material maybe driveninto the relatively" softcelluloid, and thus hold the two materialstogether {by mechanicalpenetration and anchorage. Indeed anyone or moreof these hypotheses may explain the undeniably ad 'vantageous andsurprising results which are obtained Certainit-is that the celluloidfacing isintimately united with the body, for all practical purposes asthough they were "homogeneous, and the comparative translucency ortransparency of the celluloid is not impaired.

. Y One of the circumstances towhich-Ihave already; called attention isthe fact. that by.

. visual characteristics incidental to the pres" 'ence" of celluloid,and withal an article which as a whole is not easily broken orfractured,and of finished appearance. I have found that there is no.blistering ofthe celluloid facing, even when it is present as a very thin sheet.

Fig. 3 shows how the facing l0inay be eX- tended along the sidesanddpartlyunderthe body 11, as'indicated at12, in order to prevent Vaccidental mechanical stripping, which might result if'a sharpinstrument could readily be inserted in the joint between the celluloidand the phenol condensation body. 7 n Figs. 4 to 7 i lustrate theapplicationof the invention to a'button' for a typewritingor computingmachine, providing an economical and eflicient method for applyinglegendsto 'suchbuttons. In this case the desired legend "may be printedon adisc of white (for instance) celluloid13 showniin Fig. 4. This disc131s then covered witha second disc 14L of transparent celluloid, andthe two discs are given a preparatory treatment to composite thein,.orthe compositing may be performed I in the final moldingoperation. i r

. I claim:

The method'which consists in placing in? mold a charge of a phenolcondensation prod-A not, said charge being brought to a tempera-i tureoffrom 200 to 275? E, applying a facing of celluloid to the charge, andsubstantially simultaneously subjecting the charge to a short period ofcompressionto raise the temperature of the charge to the "curing tem-'perature and to cause the charge", to adhere to the celluloid facingwhile maintaining the .celluloidfaci'ng in contact with a support,

thereby preventing: the celluloid from reaching its decomposingtemperature.

. In testimony-whereof I aflix my signature; JOHN N. WHITEHOUSE.

my process it is possible to operate simultaneously upon' two materialsto makeoflthem i a combined finished product, notwithstanding I that thetemperatures involved in the combining operation run Well above thepoint at which one .of the materials (the celluloid) V I wouldordinarily be destroyed; Iv do not un- .dertake to explain this anomaly,but suggest that it maybe because the die member which v gcompressesthecelluloid facing and the phenol v 7 i j to condens-ationj m'aterial bodytogether and fin ish forms jthe article-,js sufficiently" cooler 1 V "I,

than the mold member and the heated phenol l condensation materialsothat excessive and dangerousheat may be harmlessly conducted away, Andit isa fact, of=course,;that in the ;c0mpression,"which as beforestatedfiraises the temperature offthe compressedflbodies,

, outside.

' there iseifectiveexclusion'of oxygen from the f The result aitheirasajs torp rddncs a j.

' article with a desirablysmooth facing, having

